Protestors in Malaysia call on Myanmar to end Rohingya persecution

Kuala Lumpur, July 15 (IANS) More than 100 activists and ethnic Rohingya refugees joined a protest near the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, calling on Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy to end discrimination of the minority group.

Protestors held up placards emblazoned with messages for Suu Kyi, EFE news reported.

“Dear Suu Kyi, we are all the same,” read one of the signs.

Demonstrators also ripped up a poster displaying a portrait of ultra-nationalist Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, who has been a leading anti-Muslim voice in Myanmar.

The protest was overseen by a heavy security presence, and there were no instances of violence.

Three of the protestors were granted permission to deliver a petition to the embassy, which detailed the group’s demands for the Myanmar government to stop the persecution of the Rohingya people.

Human rights advocates have long condemned Myanmar’s treatment of its estimated 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims, who have for decades suffered from discrimination and restrictions on movement.

NGO Fortify Rights has said the minority group — which has been targeted by waves of violence since 2012, forcing many to seek refuge abroad, or to live in camps for internally displaced people — survives “in conditions that appear to have been calculated to bring about their destruction”.

During Suu Kyi’s first few months in power she has faced criticism from activists for failing to address religious intolerance, which has included the recent destruction of two mosques by Buddhist mobs.